


Hell or Highwater

by kiapurity



Series: Alternative Branching Paths [2]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: F/M, Fic is confused between angst and comedy, Sam the Researcher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 05:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19900369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiapurity/pseuds/kiapurity
Summary: Another DMC3 change in which instead of falling into Hell, Vergil falls back into the real world. There are things that he must make up for.





	Hell or Highwater

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of a parallel to Hell Has No Fury but from Vergil's POV and with a much different path.

He had not expected this sudden turn of events.

When Vergil had slashed his twin’s hand to prevent Dante from reaching out, he meant to fall into Hell. What he did not expect was that Dante would grab Vergil’s leg with his other hand and applied a feat of physics, sending Vergil in the other direction behind Dante.

Vergil landed with a hard thump, dazed at first then angrily snapped. “How dare you--”

Dante delivered a solid hit to his twin’s jaw, knocking him out cold. Then he immediately shook both hands, having injured them no thanks to Vergil’s dumbassery. Dante wasn’t going to let Vergil do something so monumentally stupid, so he hauled his unconscious twin out through the closing portal.

\--

Vergil woke up with a start from under the sheets, his arms out as if he was trying to strangle a certain sibling. His eyes slitted from sheer rage upon being prevented from carrying out his plan of taking on Mundus.

Right, he was in his brother’s building which was still in process of being cleaned up. Vergil pushed himself off the couch, intent on either getting an explanation out of his brother or stabbing him.

Dante was cooking something in the small kitchen which threw Vergil off guard. Some sort of scrambled eggs?

“Morning, grumpy.”

“Dante… why?”

“You think I’m going to let my only family throw himself into hell? Stop glaring at me, your breakfast will be ready shortly.”

“I had a plan.”

“Throwing yourself into hell is a stupid plan. Hell, the tower thing? What was it all for?”

Vergil grumbled something under his breath. Dante could barely make out what it was, so he asked his twin to repeat himself. He did.

Dante put down the spatula for a second and whirled upon Vergil. “A WIFE? YOU ROSE A TOWER FOR A WIFE?!”

“No. The intent was to break the seal so I could get father’s power to take on Mundus. That way I would know that my wife would be safe from him and I could finally go get her.”

“Oh, you fucking dumbass!”

“As long as Mundus is out there, still sending armies after us-- there’s no way it would be safe for me to go back to her!”

Dante grabbed the pan off the stove to keep the eggs from burning, still glaring at his twin. “When was the last time you saw her anyway?”

“I think it has been about a year.”

“A year. You left her alone for a year? You are astonishingly stupid, do you even love her--”

“I wouldn’t have made her mine if I didn’t!” Vergil snapped back. “She’s safe in Fortuna where she is right now.”

Dante blinked, digesting on that thought then stared at his brother. He put down the pan on the counter and just pointed. Words were not even coming out of his mouth as he tried to form them but failed, dissolving into laughter.

“I fail to see what is so humorous about this.”

“Okay, so she’s safe in a place that’s known to have a cult based on our father? What makes you think Mundus didn’t try to raze the place after you left.”

Vergil stood there for a good few minutes before turning towards the front door. “I’ll get my sword.”

“Sit down and eat your eggs, bro. As far as I know, the island is still standing.” Dante piled the eggs on a plate, shoving it in Vergil’s hands. “Then we’re going there so I can watch you grovel to her.”

Vergil accepted the eggs without another word and stalked back to the couch to sit down and eat. Dante shook his head, his brother was impossible.

\--

Wearing his shiny new red attire that would someday become iconic in the future, Dante stared upon the giant Sparda statue.

“Are you kidding me.”

“No.” Vergil pinched the bridge of his nose. “It was a little disturbing to say the least.”

“How long were you even here?”

“A month. I Intended on staying for few days, this was where I learned about Temen Ni Gru in the City Library.”

“I’m sure there’s easier ways of raising a tower. Like, in bed.”

“Don’t make me stab you.”

Dante followed Vergil’s sulking form through the town, observing the citizens who had somehow not paid attention to the unusual twins. That was interesting and weird at the same time, he thought. They were too involved with themselves to pay attention to the world around them. That must have been some kool-aid.

Finally, they made it to the cottage, Vergil was frozen to the spot in front of the door. It took five good minutes before Dante sighed, tapping his twin’s head.

“Cold feet?”

“We parted on bad terms.”

“Why does this not surprise me?”

“Do you think she’ll forgive me?”

“You should’ve thought to buy flowers, silly brother.”

“Maybe I should quote poetry instead…”

Dante facepalmed. “Just knock.”

Vergil knocked on the door with some considerable hesitation. Neither of them heard anyone approach the door. Dante suddenly noticed that the yard was overrun with weeds and tall grass. Neither of them had thought to put that Sparda Family Brain Cell™ to work.

“Um, I’ve got bad news, bro…”

“The cottage has been abandoned.” Vergil reached up to the door frame, pulling out the key.

Once inside the cottage, they were greeted by a sight of furnishing covered in white sheets like ghosts. Fear was visible on Vergil’s face as he disappeared deep within, surprising Dante. He didn’t think it was possible to rattle his twin but today was proving him wrong.

Dante stepped into the kitchen, checking through the cabinets. Everything had been put away neatly but not used in some time. No clues to be found here except for a calendar that had been ripped off of a wall and shoved away in a drawer.

“Due date?” He muttered to himself, ripping the page out. “Wonder what that’s all about…”

Dante’s head popped into the hallway to catch sight of Vergil stalking his way through, furious as ever. His jaw was twitching as he passed by Dante towards the front door. The younger twin bolted after, barely able to keep up with the older’s stride.

“What’s going on?”

“My wife was forcibly removed. All her belongings were still in her room. I suspect I am going to have very strong words with her uncle.”

“Oh, the geezer didn’t approve?”

“More like selling her off. If he decided to ignore the proof of our marriage and went through with that insidious plot, I will end him.”

“Say wh--”

Vergil had taken off at lightning speed to the point Dante was left in the dust. Well, it seemed like his brother was set on a murderous rampage… he was justified in that. However, at the same time, it was his brother’s bloody fault for having left in the first place for his stupid power quest.

“Ugh. There he goes.” Dante grumbled.

He spent the next ten minutes trying to track his brother’s whereabouts once he stopped in front of the orphanage. Something about the building caught his attention. It seemed to remind him of a place that he once stayed at as Tony Redgrave in another life. Something about that calendar page was bothering him and he couldn’t say why.

A woman made a loud startled noise upon seeing Dante. He turned his head at the woman with a questioning response. She apologized to him before explaining that she had just arrived for her shift, having been slightly taken aback with his appearance explaining that there was a very complicated case.

“A complicated case? What do you mean?”

“You see, a baby was left in our care months ago.”

Wait a second, that calendar… Dante immediately showed the worker the calendar and she immediately agreed, saying that the baby had shown up at the building roughly a week after the due date circled on the page.

Well, hello.

“Oh, jeez. I suppose that means I’m an uncle?”

“There were instructions left with the child saying that in the event if a blood relative showed up, they were to be reunited. Is the child’s father still alive?”

“Yeah, he’s still around, just a bit distracted at the moment.”

\--

Speaking of distracted, rage and grief twisted in the pit of his stomach. He should have been more receptive to his wife’s pleas to take her out of the city. He would rip the truth out of the miserable man’s throat with his bare hands if he so pleased it. The visible rage on his face had forced a clear path through the crowd.

Once he made it to the docks, the dock workers took notice and moved out of the way. He demanded to speak with the owner and the secretary reluctantly allowed him to pass, clearly intimidated. The middle-aged owner looked up from the document piles on his desk and scoffed.

“Whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

“You will only get my name after I get answers. Where is my wife.”

The owner’s face lost some color before he ground his teeth, slamming an open palm on the desk. He had not expected this confrontation to happen, having largely believed that his niece was lying about her husband’s existence according to the Order’s researcher.

“Not here. She’s been banished for breaking the rules.”

“Where is she.”

The edge of Yamato was suddenly at the owner’s throat in a swift motion that gave him no time to move out of the way. The tip barely grazed the throat, leaving behind a thin line of blood. It mixed with the owner’s perspiration, leaving him in a state of distress.

“I will not ask again.” The ice in the man’s voice was clearly present.

“I do not know. The Order took her out of the cottage at my request! I’ve barely had time to fake her death. Will you put that down?!”

“I will not. You will take me to this researcher or I will end your miserable life on the spot.”

The owner had no reason to doubt the sincerity in the man’s words as he cursed his niece’s nanny for having supplied him with one critical piece of information. This was Sparda’s son and he would not be denied answers.

\--

The orphanage worker took Dante over to a park, saying that the family would show up shortly with the child. In hindsight, this was probably a really good idea that Dante had yeeted his brother out of hell. And at the same time, he wanted to give Vergil a well deserved ass kicking for leaving a child behind.

“Hello! You must be Dante?” A kindly woman approached him and gave her name.

He nodded and looked at the child in the stroller. “This must be my nephew, then?”

A milk bottle hit Dante squarely in the face with a thwack with the resulting loud laughing sounds coming from the stroller.

“This is Vergil’s kid, alright. His name?”

“Nero. The name came with the instructions left behind.”

“I see.” Dante squinted.

The little boy had a thumb firmly stuck in his mouth, taking in his uncle’s presence with wide blue eyes. He popped the thumb out and scrunched his face up in a scowl as if he was saying that he wasn’t too impressed.

“...this kid.”

“He’s such a sweetheart. I knew this day was going to come, but he does need to be with his family. My daughter is going to miss her playmate...”

“Ah, man, neither of us had any idea. Do you know what happened to his mother?”

“No, I’m sorry. The letter said that she was detained.” Worry furrowed on her face.

“If it makes you feel any better, I promise I’ll bring Nero over as often as possible since it’s clear that your family has a special bond with him.”

She wiped the tears away, smiling at Dante. “Thank you very much. Fostering is such a difficult job. We were going to officially adopt him after a year. He does kind of remind us a little bit of Sparda.”

Dante nearly choked.

\--

The two were now at the Order headquarters with the owner demanding to speak with the researchers. An average height, slim looking person came out and took a good look at both the owner and a very angry looking white haired man. The researcher quickly popped out a flask and took a deep swig.

“It is a displeasure to see you again, Dick Fortune.”

“Richard. I must speak with your boss. Because…” He gestured to the angry man. “I have made a grievous error and must make up for it.”

The slim researcher placed the flask back in a pocket, taking stock of the tall man through their cat’s eye glasses. A small ‘huh’ sound came from the researcher’s mouth before they whipped out a notebook, jotting something down. Then finally, the researcher muttered, scratching at their head.

“I suppose Agatha should still be about. She said she was preparing a subject for transport. There is a special place in hell for you, Dick.” The researcher spat at Richard’s feet which only served to turn his face purple.

Vergil smirked. “You are very generous with information.”

“I dislike seeing innocent people get caught up in bullshit like this. I told Agatha this was highly unethical but my pleas fell upon deaf ears.” The researcher shook their head. “I’ve tried to appeal to the higher offices but they would not hear from a lowly assistant. I am doing my best to make up for this issue.”

“So, I presume you have a good idea of where this Agatha might be holding my wife?”

“Yes.” The researcher responded before smacking Richard in the face with the notebook. “Time is of the utmost urgency.”

Richard sputtered with outrage while watching the two people retreat from the building. He took this chance to flee back to his office, not wanting to be on the island any longer. Karma would catch up with him at some point or other, it was just a matter of time.

\--

Dante felt a little silly, pushing the stroller along but not before Vergil and a researcher ran past him. Then Vergil came to a stop with a loud “what” then walked back to Dante, pointing to the stroller.

“What is the meaning of this foolishness, brother?”

Dante had a smug look on his face. “Brother… meet Nero.”

Vergil stared at the baby, blinking. “Is this yours?”

He promptly got swatted upside the head in response. Vergil let out an angry yell and tried to strangle his brother who sighed. The researcher was taking notes and muttering something about how Sparda seemed to have a pair of twins who were at odds with each other. The baby gave out a loud cry, Dante grabbed him and popped him in Vergil’s arms. Vergil could only manage a stunned look on his face once Nero had quieted.

“Congrats, you’re a father.”

“I’m a what. What. Wait. What?”

“Subject seems confused on being a parent.” The researcher continued. “Should have clarified the situation beforehand…”

They looked at the researcher who shrugged and went back to organizing their notes. Vergil was still wearing a stunned expression on his normally stoic face.

“How did this happen?”

“Dude, did you ever learn about sex education?”

“...I read books, I’m not an idiot. But I-- oh. I think I may be an idiot.”

Dante snorted. “No, really?”

“I-- I need to get his mother back! My wife! The research assistant has a lead here!”

“Hi, I’m Sam.” The researcher waved. “There’s some warehouses near the pier.”

“I was just there earlier-- shit! I should have sensed her then!”

“Off to a great start, you cursed in front of your kid.”

“...” Vergil shot Dante a withering look that would have burned the local flora to crisp. “You’re the babysitter.”

“But he doesn’t like me!”

“Nether do I and you’re stuck with both of us.”

“Ah, shut up you two.” Sam sighed, shoving the notebook back in a pocket somewhere.

\--

They had returned to the docks as Sam muttered, trying to remember where one of Agatha’s blasted many warehouses were. Sam spun off in a particular direction to the northwest, hoping like heck that they hadn’t misread the schedule in Agatha’s office the other day. If only because that blasted hag tended to leave her work in codes so there was a real chance that the shipment had already happened months ago.

“Okay, I need to check something important here.” Sam muttered. “I don’t know much about mating marks…”

Dante was trying to restrain a coughing fit, but failed once the coughing fit dissolved into laughter. Vergil just glared at his twin, trying to compel him mentally to quit laughing.

“Sorry. Uh, what exactly did you need to know?”

“Just wondering if it was possible to sense mates through the mark. Feelings, locations, thoughts.”

An astonishing amount of silence landed with a heavy thump as the twins weren’t sure how to respond as Vergil’s reading on the subject was interrupted by the need to flee from a surprise army attack. Dante, on the other hand knew a little more after being hit on by demon chicks while on the job. However, it appeared that neither of them could actually answer Sam’s question as the researcher facepalmed.

“This would go so much faster if you could sense your wife out! Agatha keeps so many blasted warehouses…”

“I assure you, if I could sense anything from my wife, it would be her cursing at my existence.”

“Then again…” Sam muttered. “There’s the drug to contend with.”

“What drug? What did they do to her?”

“Experimental amnesia drug. She was dosed repeatedly because she kept breaking through every time because of her stubbornness. That in combination with hypnotherapy-- it is possible that if you were able to sense anything at all in the first place, you wouldn’t be able to now. I have no idea why I even asked the question.”

“AMNESIA?! Are you serious.”

Sam sighed, pulling out the flask already along with another notebook (how many did they have in the pockets) before deciding on a warehouse. The twins followed the researcher into the warehouse which was astonishingly empty. If it wasn’t for Vergil holding his baby, he would be exploding with fury.

“She is obviously not here.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. Agatha coded the schedule.” Sam threw the notebook to the floor in disgust. “Your wife has been gone for three months.”

Vergil just stood there looking stunned. Dante sighed and started looking around the room for clues. There were scattered papers on a desk as Sam headed over, picking them up and trying to decipher them with just a bare glance. The older twin just sat down on a couch, still holding the baby and unable to speak.

“I think you broke him.”

“There IS still a way. I just need to read and reorganize my thoughts.”

“She was here.” Vergil finally spoke up. “I can feel traces. Then nothing. I don’t know if she’s still alive, Nero needs his mother. I need her.”

Dante winced at hearing how broken his twin sounded, still looking around for clues. As far as he could tell, they had left the warehouse in a hurry. In the next room he checked, it was an uncomfortable blend of a bedroom and an examination room. There were some scratches on the door as if whoever was locked in the room was desperately trying to get out. He decided the scratches were made by human fingernails though there were some deeper grooves that he couldn’t make out. Weird.

In a corner, there were piles of discarded clothing, some stained with blood. Above the pile, there was a camera hanging from the ceiling. Faint scent of vanilla and rose lingered in the room. Sam finally called Dante back to the main room, considerably troubled enough to keep drinking from the flask.

“As far as I can tell that three months ago was when they decided the experiment was a success to the point they moved her off island. There is a high possibility that she’s on the mainland. I don’t think Agatha even had time to code this one -- but she might be in Redgrave.”

“Oh, hell.” Dante muttered.

Vergil just stared off into the distance, it felt like the fates were mocking him. His wife was being held somewhere that was a home for him once. He had not returned ever since that fateful night where his childhood was destroyed.

“Sammy, we’re going to have to regroup at my office.”

“Fine by me, this island is awful.”

\--

A week later, no one was getting anywhere with the investigation. Vergil was doing a fair share of questioning his past decisions and doing a lot of mental swearing at himself for his foolishness. He still had a baby to contend with and he was doing his best though there were times he felt like such a dismal failure. It seemed as if Nero knew how much his father was hurting and tried his best to comfort his father.

Dante had several jobs to do so it was up to Sam to keep the research going with the note translating. So far, there was a considerable amount of sighing and drinking alcohol with some hair pulling and despair noises. Sam had to figure out how to reverse the damage done because there was something that deeply troubled him regarding Carina. Agatha took special interest in her regarding her chimera status.

Sure, about every mother alive would be a chimera because of giving birth to children but science showed that cells from sons lingered on. Dante had remarked on the odd scratches in the door and that made Sam wonder then stare at the cute baby with some deep suspicion.

“I know you and your brother are Sparda’s sons.”

Vergil snapped his head at Sam. “W--what.”

“I am probably the only person in Fortuna who has actually seen pictures of Sparda himself. Hell, I’m still kicking myself for not taking the chance to investigate Sparda when there was a picture of him in Redgrave…”

“I’m surprised a picture of father exists.”

Sam declined to point out that it was a very awkward picture of Sparda looking like a deer in headlights trying to go to a grocery store but somehow got caught in the middle of a parade lest he ruin Vergil’s life any more than it was already. Where the hell was their point going…?

“Ahem. Since you two are obviously half devils, correct? Can you actually shift forms?”

“Oh, you mean Devil Trigger? That’s not an issue.”

Vergil immediately changed in front of the researcher which swiftly knocked Sam out of the desk chair not having expected this. Nero made a loud squealing noise, clearly undisturbed and wanting to be held.

“I need more alcohol. Also, it would seem that your baby is not terrified.”

“I would certainly hope not.”

“Is this naturally occurring or does it happen at a certain age?”

“First time I changed,” Vergil shifted back. “I was thirteen and trying to escape from Mundus’ army. I was close to death at that point and I felt something change inside. There was no one left alive afterwards.”

“Huh, was it the same for your brother?”

“I stabbed him … last week.”

“Are you serious.” Sam threw the notebook in the air out of frustration.

“Where are you leading with this?”

“I’m just trying to figure out if this is something that will happen to Nero. It sounds like for you two it required near death situations.”

Vergil’s eyes narrowed. “If anyone tries to lay a hand on my baby, I will end their existence right now.”

Sam facepalmed at the overprotective father and went to retrieve the notebook to resume writing. The chimera thing was still bothering the hell out of them. If one was to judge, it wasn’t near-death that prompted the deep grooves, it was emotional distress. Maybe, just maybe this would be the case for Nero for whenever he eventually got old enough to be able to activate the devil trigger.

“How would you describe your wife?”

“Carina? Just about 5’8” tall, maybe. Long black hair, amber eyes and red lips. Generous curves.” He blushed.

Sam just stared straight ahead at the blank wall as if they could drill a hole into it with precision lasers. Another facepalm.

“I know what she looks like. I meant how would you describe her personality.”

“Quick wit … and quick to anger too. Cares too much but at the same time puts other people before herself. She knew how to make you feel safe and comfortable. I tried to resist falling for her thinking love at first sight was such a foolish notion but it happened and I was lost.”

He sighed, standing up still carrying Nero to grab a fresh bottle of milk.

“I’m still lost without her.”

“We will find her.” Sam gritted through their teeth. “I refuse to let Agatha’s madness defeat me!”

There were the tapes too but Sam didn’t want to play those in front of Vergil or he would lose his mind and blast out of the room before anyone could point out that he didn’t have a goddamn plan or even have any sense of where his wife was.

Then they both looked at Nero who was wiggling in Vergil’s arms and making angry baby noises, trying to reach for the blue stuffed toy dragon.

“I’ll get that for you--”

Before Vergil could even finish his sentence, Nero somehow manifested a goddamn blue arm out of nowhere, grabbing the toy and brought it back. Happy baby noises resumed while the two adults were unable to respond. Sam pulled out a notebook, recording the event.

“It would seem that my son has more power than I thought.”

“No shit.”

Vergil went to put Nero down for a nap and wound up taking a nap himself in the process while the baby was on top of him, cuddling the toy. Sam took this time to sneak upstairs with the tapes and headphones, did not want to disturb the family’s naptime. It was a cruel contrast, having to watch recordings of the experiments in action while others slept unaware of what happened in the past. Sam’s stomach curdled as they reached for one of Dante’s whiskey bottles.

Each day on the tape showed a slow progression of the drug in action. She would be very disoriented being told the same story over and over. Her resistance was slowing down every time they increased the dose until she stopped resisting. In the beginning she had bled her hands clawing at the door with the spectral arms trying to break down before fizzing out as gas filled the room.

Sam stopped the tape, shaking with rage. They hadn’t heard Dante come up from behind him. “That is awful.”

“This goes against everything I stand for. This isn’t science, this is brutality.”

“Speaking of which.” Dante sighed. “Another dead end. The scientist you mentioned? Dead.”

“What?”

“Heart attack or something. Found her body on an unrelated job-- wasn’t even in Redgrave.”

“Ah hell.”

Sam moaned, burying their faces in their hands. It was clear how much guilt weighed on this poor assistant researcher who believed in science only to find out that their colleagues cared little for improving lives and doing things for selfish purposes.

“I got more information though.”

“I thought you said dead end?”

“While poor Agatha has departed, I did find more notes.”

“Gimme.”

Dante handed the stack over and watched with astonishment as Sam devoured them at a frenzied speed. Just after five minutes of scribbling in a different notebook to translate the mess, the assistant researcher sighed.

“Just as I thought-- my first guess of Redgrave is correct. I need to confirm that there hasn’t been a change in movement.”

“I’m going to check it out even though Vergil is going to stab me for it later.”

“That would be for the best.” Sam paused. “Not the stabbing, but investigating, you know. I need to know her current mental state then we can hopefully reverse this.”

“I want to go.” Vergil demanded, still holding a sleeping baby.

“Damn it, you were supposed to be asleep.”

“You’re going to end up losing your cool.” Dante complained in spite of Vergil shooting glares at him that could have been swords instead.

“I will not.”

“Who’s going to watch Nero then?” Sam grumbled only to be handed the baby.

“I trust you.” Sam looked at Dante for help. “Dante, I do not.”

“Thanks, bro.” Dante glared back at Vergil.

\--

As if there was any choice in the matter and there was no trying to pop Vergil’s jaw in a surprise attack again. That trick only worked once. So here Dante was, hanging out with his twin chasing a hopeful lead. They were in a reasonably populated area in downtown Redgrave, sticking out like sore thumbs with their bright colored clothing.

“Never thought I’d be back here.” Dante muttered. “Though we never visited this part of the city, did we?”

“We didn’t.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Scared. Apprehensive. Worried.”

“That she won’t remember you?”

“Yes.” He let out a sigh. “Damn them for doing that to her. This is my fault. I left her alone, thinking she would be untouched as long as they saw the mark.” Vergil ran a hand through his hair.

“Mark.” Dante snorted. “Should’ve just gotten rings and a license. This is what you get for not thinking more human.”

“You don’t have to remind me of my lack of intelligence or lapse in judgement.”

With that banter aside, they were both searching for an address. It appeared to be from an apartment and there was a remark about hiding in plain sight. At least this apartment building wasn’t one of the fancier ones, reserved for rich people with a doorman to shoo out the twins. They slipped inside with Dante double checking Sam’s notes, indicating that the room was on the top floor. There was a staircase and an elevator and for some very specific reason the twins both stared at each other. Vergil bolted to the stairs while Dante casually strolled into the elevator.

At the top floor, Vergil was breathing heavily just as Dante stepped out of the elevator. “Damn, I lost?”

“I am more motivated than you are.”

“I can tell.” Dante whistled. “Okay, this should be the apart--”

Vergil cut down the door as the younger twin sighed, watching his brother march in with purpose set in his jaws. It was when Dante realized there was no stopping him once he had his goal in mind, that stupid tower being the proof. Sam was going to throw a fit at them for doing this but all Dante could do was make sure his brother was okay.

What lucky timing, there wasn’t anyone in the living room with the older twin racing to the back rooms, a door literally torn off at the hinges went sailing past Dante’s head. There was a quiet “Carina” as Vergil emerged, holding the sleeping figure clothed in long white robe in his arms.

“She’s breathing right?”

“Yes. It seems like she’s been asleep for some time.”

“Let’s beat it then. Don’t want to get caught as we are right now. Besides, staying here any longer feels uncomfortable.”

With that unspoken threat of Mundus’ army still out snooping around for the twins, the best thing to do was to attempt a strategic retreat to the office. Fortunately the entire time, Lady was helping Sam with Nero on the ground floor. There was a brief conversation about how cute the baby was before Lady was completely astonished at the reveal with the baby being Vergil’s. Sam could only wonder what the hell kind of a person Vergil was to point that people seemed to express confusion over the man being able to reproduce.

They were interrupted by a blue blur going upstairs as Dante walked in with a sheepish look on his face.

“Oh, hey, Lady. Did Nero behave himself?”

“No problems here.” Sam waved then sighed. “So much for careful planning. Mind taking over?”

Nero was immediately transferred to Lady as the poor assistant researcher went upstairs to yell at Vergil. Lady glanced back at Dante with a questioning look on her face.

“Long story.”

“I have time, Dante.”

“Brother rescued his wife.”

“His what!?”

“Yeah. The same one he rose a tower for.”

“...if that's innuendo, I’m going to be very upset with you.”

Dante snorted at Lady. “Nero, have you been behaving for Lady?”

Nero could only respond with happy gurgling. He flopped quickly out of Lady’s hands before she could react and crawled over to Dante, staring at his uncle intensely. There was a frown on his face as if he was going to start yelling at the top of his lungs. Nothing came out of his tiny scrunched face.

“I hope you didn’t poop in your diapers.”

Tiny angry noises answered Dante in the negative. Lady stared at the idiot uncle trying to communicate with his nephew. Nero used his devil bringer arm to retrieve the toy that somehow wound up all the way on the other side of the room and dropped it in his uncle’s lap all “well, what are you going to do about it now.” Both Dante and Lady were stunned into silence.

“Did you know he could do that, Dante?”

“Hell no. I just met this kid last week!”

Upstairs, Sam was checking Carina’s vitals and making several concerned noises before dealing with the impatient look on Vergil’s face. “As far as I can tell, she seems to be stable. We’ll only find out once she wakes up. You and Dante are going to have to stay out of the way for now.”

“Why. I should be with her.”

“According to the notes. They split you into two different characters, a loving husband who was killed by a demon. This may have fractured her memories and I don’t know how well she will react to your presence. Would she see you as the dead husband or the demon?”

Vergil made a sour expression at the remark. “Is there a way to reverse this?”

“Again, that depends on how severe the experiment was.”

Carina began groaning and thrashing in her sleep as if she was trying to fight off a nightmare. Sam dropped the notes and ordered Vergil to hold her down, unsure if there would be a repeat of prior results recorded in the notes.

Below, the baby was crawling all over Dante and grabbed at his hair, clearly upset. Dante let out a small “ow” and looked up to the agitated sounds which only seemed to worsen Nero’s mood. Lady was about to ask Dante if they should take Nero outside when Nero suddenly disappeared from their sight. Their heads shot up, shocked at the baby having used his devil bringer to hang off of the railing.

Vergil took note of his son hanging from the railing and almost had a heart attack on the spot. He was about to tell Nero to hang on because daddy was coming to save him. Sam was stone faced at the entire dialogue as they watched Nero zoom off of the railing, coming to a rest on top of the bed, next to his mother. He snuggled against his mother’s chest right under Vergil’s nose while he was holding down her arms. Vergil felt Carina immediately relax and let go of her arms.

“I guess you’ve got this, Nero.”

Dante and Lady rushed upstairs, clearly freaked out about the baby doing the thing when they took notice of the whole situation. Sam was now adding new things to their notebooks regarding the devil bringer abilities.

“Actually, if anything… Nero may be the key.”

“What? How?”

Sam tapped their chin thoughtfully. “She’s always reaching out to him every time she fights off the drugs. He might be a priority for her right now.”

Vergil grimaced.

“I think we all could do with some sleep. Lady and I are gonna go grab some late night pizza. Laters.” Dante shooed Lady down the stairs and out of the office.

The older twin looked at the assistant researcher with a considerable amount of helplessness on his face. He just didn’t have the power to rescue his wife from this hellish nightmare she was trapped in. Sam only sighed and told Vergil to go sleep on the couch, saying to wait until the morning. Vergil glowered, stalking over to the bed to give quick forehead kisses to his family before retreating to the couch downstairs, feeling exiled.

Sleeping was next to impossible but he tried his best to quiet all the negative thoughts eating at him. There was no use going over all “should’ve done things differently” because it was only going to drive him up the wall at this point. He pulled his coat over his head, grumbling to himself. The next thing he knew, morning had arrived in front of Dante who was prodding his crankypants twin.

“What do you want.”

“Shh. She’s awake. Lady’s with them right now. For now, let’s just sneak right under them. We can hear them easier over there.” Dante dragged his exhausted twin right under the half floor.

Sam was busy scribbling in the notebook as was the habit for keeping track of information. Carina was happily snuggling with her baby who she thought had been dead. Lady had brought up some breakfast for everyone, leaving the twins with nothing to fend for themselves which was supposed to hint at them to get out of the office for a while.

“It’s so strange. I feel like I’ve been in a fog this entire time and my baby’s already so grown up…” She sighed. “What happened to me?”

“Too many things. First, what do you remember?”

“Different rooms and trying to escape but being put to sleep every time. I feel so weak right now.”

“Yeah, you’d need some physical therapy to get your muscles back in working order.”

“Bastards… did my uncle do this to me?”

Sam only nodded in the affirmative as she swore that she was going to shoot the bastard. The poor researcher had to try to get her to stay in bed because Carina was still wobbling from weakened leg strength. She landed back on the bed with a light “oof” and sighed, rubbing her face with a free hand.

“Anything else more than that-- before you were separated from your son?”

“I remember Nanny was with me. We had been trying to figure out a way for me to escape while I was pregnant. There was a couple that had resources but I declined at that time because I was still waiting for…” she paused, trying to remember what she was waiting for. “...I was probably waiting for some idiot.”

Vergil winced and Dante had to stuff a hand in his mouth to keep himself from laughing.

“My shoulder hurts… it’s been hurting for some time now. Do I have some kind of infection?”

Sam went over to Carina and checked her back, revealing the blue rose mark. If this was possible, Sam’s eyes would have rolled all the way into space, orbiting the goddamn planet fueled by the power of god why.

“There is no infection. It’s just your mark acting up.”

“Mark? Is the devil still here?”

There was a brief sound of angry yelling down below with everyone pointedly ignoring it. Carina glanced over.

“Don’t pay mind to that.” Sam said. “About the mark, we need to have a discussion regarding that subject. You were misled rather badly.”

“But I’ve seen the devil and-- oh. Oh.” Her face turned bright red. “I think I fucked that devil.”

Utter silence.

Sam’s mouth fell open at the words that had just come out of her mouth. Lady looked equally stunned. Dante finally lost it and started laughing so hard he was crying. Vergil had turned furiously red and was debating whether he should strangle his twin or proceed to curl up and die on the floor.

“What? It’s the truth.” Carina sighed, cradling her baby. “I mean, I wouldn’t have Nero if it wasn’t for the emotionally constipated man I had to drag into my cottage to make sure he didn’t drop over from starvation or sleep deprivation.”

“Do you even remember his name?”

It was her turn to have a blank look on her face. The name was just out of reach for her and she could barely make out his face in her head. Still, she could feel him close by, twitching nervously halfway between trying to strangle his twin and being stuck on the floor.

“At the very least I remember it started with a V.”

“So close…” Sam muttered. “So, you’re not having any horrible reactions?”

“You mean, like the part where I was going crazy to the point I was hurting myself in an act of desperation savagery?”

“Something like that.”

“No. I’m finally free. My head still hurts from what they did.”

“It was why I had to keep the twins out of the way because I wasn’t sure how you would respond.”

“I can handle it.”

Sam made doubtful noises at Carina who just stared them down with a very specific look indicating that they should do as she said. Sam only let out a “crap” before leaning over the railing yelling at the dumbass twins to get their stupid butts up here. Dante was not going to miss this opportunity to watch Vergil grovel.

The twins raced up the stairs with the older one moving faster, motivated by his need. The first thing he did was draw her into a hungry kiss. She gazed upon his cold blue eyes and whispered his name.

“Vergil.”


End file.
